The Beginnings of an X-Man
by Aelin Nicolo Winchester
Summary: After Tatsu's death, Maseo sends Akio to the Xavier Institute. Logan doesn't do comfort, Akio is distressed, and Jean is discreetly furious with Maseo. Or: a one-shot about what happens to Akio after my other story MAA, but you don't have to read that to understand it.


**The Beginnings of an X-Man**

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 **A/N:**

 **This idea came to me and I couldn't just** ** _not_** **write it.**

 **This is a sequel to my other Arrow story, The Making Of an ARGUS Agent, but even if** **you haven't read it,** **I think you can figure out what happened in that fic just by reading this. Beware of spoilers for that fic though. You might just want to check out that story first.**

 **Also, in this story, Logan and Bobby both came to the Institute much earlier. That's all. Enjoy, and please review when you're done!**

 **I own none of these characters.**

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 _1\. February 26, 2009; Scott Summers_

The last time Scott had seen Akio Yamashiro was four years ago, when he went to Hong Kong with Jean, Storm, and Logan because Xavier had sensed the boy's power on Cerebro. Scott hadn't been headmaster back then. Akio's father had supposedly been on a business trip, but his mother had politely explained that she had no intention of sending her son to an unfamiliar land across the ocean, _especially_ during this stressful time.

They had conceded without too much fuss, because it was clear that the woman wasn't like many of the bigoted parents who were repelled by their children's powers. She loved her son like a parent should - unconditionally. Akio's own power, a healing factor, wasn't exactly dangerous anyway.

He was just seven, then. Very young for a mutant to unlock a power. He was a good kid.

The last time Scott had seen _Maseo_ Yamashiro was five years ago, when the agent had been checking out the Institute for ARGUS, making sure it wasn't some kind of mutant militia base.

Naturally, he was uneasy when he got a call from the ARGUS agent, expecting a request to schedule another inspection. He was understandably surprised to hear that he wanted to send his mutant son to the Institute. Before that, he hadn't even realized the connection between Maseo and Akio.

Scott agreed, of course, and they made arrangements for the X-jet to go to Hong Kong to retrieve the boy. Maseo had stated firmly that his colleague, who he referred to only as Oliver, would be checking up on Akio every once in awhile. This point was non negotiable. Scott was hesitant to allow a man who was both non-mutant, and a government agent, into the Institute on a regular basis. However, Maseo assured him Oliver would have only Akio's best interests at heart, so he was willing to withhold judgment. Regardless, he would be very careful when the man came.

* * *

 _2\. February 27, 2009; Logan_

The last time Logan had come to Hong Kong, he'd been working with ARGUS to find Laura, his clone. It had been a one-time deal, and the condition had been that Laura would be allowed to come to the Institute with him if she chose to. It had taken some adjustment, but eventually Laura came to call the Institute home.

That was three years ago. He'd worked with Maseo Yamashiro, the ARGUS agent who had inspected the Institute two years before that. He was a good man, even if Maseo himself didn't seem to think so. Logan was familiar with the way ARGUS did things, and had no doubt Waller was holding something over the man. He had even offered (discreetly, of course) to help him, but Maseo had been adamant that he didn't need help. He was a proud man, as well.

When Summers had told Logan that they were going to bring his son to the Institute, he hadn't been _surprised_ exactly. He had made the connection between Maseo and Akio the first time he went to Hong Kong to talk to Tatsu about Akio's mutant status. However, Tatsu had been quite adamant about Akio staying with her, so the suddenness of the call was worrying. Something must have happened.

Sure enough, when Maseo and Akio showed up, Tatsu suspiciously absent, Logan could smell the grief coming off the pair. He hadn't listened to their conversation, but he had unintentionally caught a few phrases with his enhanced hearing.

 _"It's not forever."_

 _"Oliver will drop by sometimes_ _and make sure you're okay."_

 _"I want you to stay."_

His hearing also made the boy's crying stand out that much more in the relative quiet of the airfield. Logan cursed his abilities sometimes.

The most prominent explanation in Logan's mind was that Tatsu was dead, in which case he couldn't help think that sending the kid away didn't seem like the most responsible course of action. He wouldn't judge, though, because he didn't know the situation.

Logan awkwardly ushered the crying kid onto the plane, where Jean immediately took over, leading the kid to a seat and trying to comfort him. Logan, meanwhile, made his way to the cockpit where Storm was waiting. Logan was not good with the comforting thing, and Jean could take care of the kid.

Lots of heartbroken kids showed up at the Institute every year. Every year, somehow, many of them found whatever it was they'd been missing. The Institute just had that effect on people. Hopefully, it would be the same for Akio.

* * *

 _3\. February 27, 2009; Jean Grey_

Jean had spent the half hour between the plane's landing and Akio's arrival scanning the area telepathically for threats. She had sensed three people approaching, and brushed on their minds just enough to tell that Akio and Maseo were among them.

However, she couldn't help but accidentally taste the overwhelming grief coming from the two. She was concerned, and curious, but she didn't fish any farther into their minds. She had boundaries, after all.

When Akio got into the plane crying, Jean hardly even had to think before she was up and guiding him to a seat. She sat down beside him, giving the boy a hug. He clung to her, not caring that she was practically a stranger because he just needed _something_ to hold onto. Jean felt her own heart ache for the boy. She didn't know what had happened, but something had broken this little boy's heart and she could _feel_ his pain.

Jean was no empath, but children felt things so much more strongly than adults did. His emotions were leaking out into the air around him, not that anyone but her could notice. Her gift could be a burden sometimes.

"Hey, it's okay," she murmured as he sobbed into her shirt, "Let it all out. It's okay. I'm right here, it's okay."

She had just met Akio (ignoring the incident in which he unlocked his powers, but that had lasted just a few hours), but she felt an overwhelming desire to _protect_ him.

Eventually, he pulled away and sank into his own seat, pulling his knees up and burying his head in his arms. Jean wanted to say something, to ask what was wrong, but she didn't need to use her powers to see that Akio was exhausted. Sure enough, less than two minutes later he was asleep in his seat. With a sigh, Jean pulled the lever to gently bring the back of the seat down so he was lying down. She laid her jacket over him, as the air was crisp in interior of the plane.

He woke up an hour later, though he pretended to be asleep for several minutes before Jean spoke up. "Do you want to talk about it?" she offered gently.

He shrugged mutely, staring at the ceiling above him.

Jean waited a few moments, though she knew he wouldn't speak without further prompting. Jean was working on a degree in child psychology, and they had actually discussed a hypothetical situation similar to this a feel weeks before winter break started. Now that she thought about it, that was a _really_ strange coincidence.

That wasn't important now, though. What was important was helping Akio, as much as he would let her help.

"I won't tell anybody," she promised, "But I know a lot about pain, I've felt plenty of it myself, and talking to somebody else about whatever's hurting you can help."

Akio kept staring at the ceiling and stayed quiet for so long she thought he wasn't going to reply. When he spoke, though, his voice was quiet, almost a whisper, and he looked so _small_ at that moment Jean almost cried herself.

"My mother is dead and now my father doesn't want me."

Jean's breath caught in her throat at the answer. _Shit_. She didn't normally curse, even in her mind, but _shit_. That was bad. Like, mentally scarring to-and-throughout-adulthood bad.

 _Come on, Jean, you've talked about this in class. You know what to do… Probably…_

 _What do I do?_

It was one thing to hear it in a lecture, but this was an _actual, living child_ whose psyche was in danger of permanent trauma.

Jean swallowed her fear. She _did_ know what to do, and she could do it. She had been learning what to do for the last four years.

"What happened?" Jean asked softly.

Akio shrugged sullenly. "He was working. She was helping him. She probably got shot. He didn't say for sure."

 _She probably got shot._ That was a morbid thought, albeit probably true, seeing as his father's "work" was espionage.

"He said he would come back," Akio continued quietly, "Father said he'll come back eventually. He didn't say when. But he promised. He's gonna come back." His voice was quiet, but there was a desperation there. He sounded like he was trying to convince himself as well as Jean, like he _had_ to believe that, because the alternative was just _unimaginable_.

Jean felt a flash of anger at Maseo. Akio just lost his mother and now his father was leaving him. That was so _irresponsible_. If he ever came back, he would likely come back to a child with abandonment issues, and it would be completely Maseo's fault.

Not _if I have anything to say about it._

Now was not the time for anger, though. She needed to stay calm. She was broken from her thoughts by another comment from Akio.

"Oliver left too."

Jean looked up curiously. "Who's Oliver?" she asked.

Akio finally sat up, fixing the back of his seat at the same time. He looked over at Jean for the first time. "He's my friend. He was my father's friend first, but he always played with me when I was bored. I think I reminded him of his sister, not that I ever mentioned that to him. He said he would come back too, but he promised it would be soon. As soon as he could, he said. And Father said Oliver would check on me sometimes to make sure I'm okay. Father trusts Oliver a lot. So do I."

Akio seemed to realize rather suddenly that he was rambling, or perhaps he thought he'd said too much, and snapped his mouth shut.

"Oliver sounds very nice," Jean remarked carefully. Scott had mentioned an arrangement for this mysterious "Oliver" to visit Akio.

Akio nodded. "He is," he said quietly.

Suddenly, Logan stepped into the cabin. "Storm needs you," he said, nodding back to the cockpit.

Jean suppressed a sigh, standing up. "I'll be back," she promised Akio, then followed Logan back to the cockpit.

* * *

 _4\. February 27, 2009; Akio Yamashiro_

Akio sat down heavily on the bed and glanced around the room dejectedly. This was _his_ room now.

His father had said he was going to live in this "Xavier Institute" for the foreseeable future. Until the next time they saw each other. Which would presumably not be for a long while. He hadn't _said_ so, of course, but Akio could see it. It was obvious to him, with the displeasure and disagreement in Oliver's eyes (which Oliver thought he'd hidden) when they told him what was going to happen, and the regret in his father's.

Akio refused to believe that that regret was because he was lying. He couldn't be lying. His father would come back - he had promised he would.

And in the meantime, he would still see Oliver sometimes. Oliver was his friend. In fact, Oliver was the only person his father had worked with who had given Akio a second thought.

Akio could adapt to this new... strange... environment. Ms. Grey was nice. She had even said there were some other children his age for him to play with, which was one improvement from his old situation.

At that thought, his mind came very close to breaking the wall he had spent the past twenty-four hours building. He could not think about the fact that his mother was gone, dead, probably got shot, right now. He could put that off for a little longer.

For whatever reason, telling Ms. Grey hadn't broken the wall. He had no idea how that was, but he knew it wouldn't happen again now that he was alone. If the wall broke now, he just might break with it.

He just had to focus on the now. He remembered something he'd heard his father tell one of the other agents he had trained, a long time ago: Forget yesterday, don't worry about tomorrow, just focus on the now.

His father was always saying things like that. Deep things. He didn't think Akio noticed, but Akio heard a lot more than most people thought. His father had said some very different things to a few of the nine people he'd trained. For example, Akio remembered Mark, his father's trainee a year ago. His father had told Mark repeatedly that the only thing that the only thing that mattered was ARGUS and ARGUS's missions, and that he should forget about his old life because it wasn't his life anymore.

Akio was certain he was not supposed to hear that, as a matter of fact.

However, his father had told Oliver to remember his family at all costs. He had made it sound like it was absolutely vital, which was why Akio had gotten Oliver that crown necklace.

Akio was pretty sure the discrepancies were because his father told his trainees what they needed to hear, and they all needed something different.

He realized with a sigh that he was thinking about the past, which was exactly what he'd just decided not to do. He pushed the memories firmly away. Ms. Grey had said that dinner was in an hour, and she would send another student to help him find the dining room, and give him a tour of the Institute afterwards if he was up to it.

Akio felt like he should do something productive, like unpack the few possessions he'd brought with him in his backpack, even though he didn't really want to. He had to do something to pass the time though, and the games he used to play by himself just didn't hold much appeal at the moment.

Maybe he would find a new friend here to play with when Oliver was gone. Maybe.

Sure enough, after a few minutes of unpacking and subsequently a lot of time-killing and thumb-twiddling, there was an obnoxiously loud knock on his door. Akio opened it to find a brown-haired boy his age bouncing up and down on the balls if his feet.

"Hey!" the boy greeted with a grin, "You're the new kid, right? I'm Bobby Drake!" He stuck out a hand expectantly.

Akio shook his hand hesitantly. This kid seemed very... energetic. "Akio Yamashiro," he replied, "You're the one Ms. Grey sent?"

"Oh, yeah!" Bobby nodded vigorously, "I'm supposed to take you to the dining hall, but that's boring. They're serving gross stuff today. Let's go find some good food!"

Akio didn't need his father's spy training to see that the boy was definitely not the one Ms. Grey had sent, but... he seemed nice. Genuine. And Akio definitely did not want to eat gross food. Besides, if he was going to make a friend here, Bobby seemed more than willing to fill the role.

"Sure," he shrugged, a small smile reaching his face, "Let's go."

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 **A/N:**

 **So yeah, Akio is smarter and more resilient than anyone around him gives him credit for.**

 **If you're wondering how Oliver didn't notice Akio's healing factor in The Making of an ARGUS Agent, let's just say it happened off-screen. Or, you know, off-page. I wrote this after I finished that story.**

 **Anyway, please review, my lovely readers!**


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